Antislipping device to be worn upon the human foot



July 27, 1937. E. E. BUTLER I 2,087,945

ANTISLIPPING DEVICE TO BE WORN UPON THE HUMAN FOOT Filed Jan. 15, 1936 Patented July 27, 1937 rr orrice;

ANTISLIPPING DEVICE TO BE WORN UPON THE HUMAN FOOT Edward E. Butler, Ypsilanti, Mich.

Application January 15, 1936, Serial No. 59,302

1 Claim.

My invention relates to devices intended to be Worn on the bottom of shoes or overshoes to prevent the foot from slipping upon ice or hard snow. It is planned for attachment by straps or other obvious means beneath the shank of the shoe. in the slightly raised space between the front of the heel and the ball of the sole. It consists of a piece of spring steel approximately 6 inches long and 2 inches wide (the exact measurements 10 not being material) bent back upon itself about midway of its length in such a way as to bring the two portions more or less into parallel with each other and approximately half an inch apart.

One side is adapted to be fastened to the shoe and the other carries teeth or spikes projecting downwardly.

The device is more detailedly described by reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a plate of thin flat spring steel, P, having prongs A, stamped out near one end perpendicularly to its plane, and a rectangular section, B, stamped out at the other end in such a way that its plane is parallel to the plane of the original plate but approximately inch from it and attached by one of its sides to the original plate, as indicated by B in Figure 2. This plate may be of steel, or any other metal having sufiicient elasticity for the purpose as hereafter described.

Figure 2 is a side view showing this plate, P, bent back upon itself so that the two parts are in an approximately parallel position. B, in Figure 2, represents the section B of Figure l press-ed out of its original plane, as above described. A in Figure 2 represents the prongs A of Figure 1 bent at right angles to the plane of the main plate.

Figure 3 shows a different construction of an essentially similar idea. Instead of using a single plate of spring steel bent upon itself, I use two 40 shorter pieces of metal, one having the displaced portion B, and the other the vertically bent prongs A, as above described. These two pieces are hinged together as at E and are held in flexible relation to each other by a spring, F.

Figure 4 represents the device as attached to a shoe by a rubber band, C, which passes between the displaced section B and the main plate and over the instep. The dotted lines D indicate the lower part of the device pressed upward and in- 50 creasing the curvature at the point where the plate is bent upon itself.

The plate, P, of Figure 1, is so bent upon itself as shown in Figure 2 (or, if the construction of Figure 3 is followed, is held in such relation by the spring F) that the distance between the two free ends is approximately the same as, or slightly greater than the height of the front edge of the heel on an ordinary shoe. Thus, when the device is held in position against the shank of the shoe as illustrated in Figure 4, the prongs A will pro- 5 J'ect out beyond the line of the bottom of the heel. They will be held normally in this projecting position by the elasticity of the curved part of the plate, if the construction shown in Figure 2 is followed, and by the spring F if the construction shown in Figure 3 is followed. But because of the elasticity of the plate, or of the spring as shown in Figure 3, these projecting parts can be shoved back toward the upper part of the, device and hence within the line of the bottom of 1 the heel, if the pressure be great enough, as indicated by the dotted lines of Figure 4.

When a shoe with this device attached is put down on ice or snow in the normal method of walking, the projecting prongs will be forced into the surface and will thereby prevent the shoe from slipping. But if the surface beneath the shoe be of material such as stone or concrete sidewalk not easily penetrable by the prongs, the pressure will compress the spring and the prongs will yield. This yielding of the projecting prongs against pressure gives my anti-slip device a great advantage over the more conventional type, by which the foot of the wearer is necessarily raised from the ground when the prongs, or spikes, are unable to penetrate the surface.

I am aware that other anti-slip devices have already been devised in such ways as to permit of this yielding of the prongs when pressed against impenetrable ground. I do not claim to have invented this fundamental idea. I assert only an improvement in the means by which the result is accomplished.

My device, on the contrary, is mechanically so simple as to eliminate the unsatisfactoriness in use of the previously known devices. Should it become clogged with snow, the obstruction is easily removable. The absence of complicated parts reduces possible breakage to a minimum and makes its construction inexpensive.

The method of attachment to the shoe is not a necessary part of my device; nor is the manner of constructing the prongs. It may be attached by straps fastened to its sides, or in any other feasible way. The prongs may be made by bending the metal at right angles as described, or by riveting spikes in place, or by merely turning the whole end at right angles to the plane of the plate. The essence of my invention is the use of an upper and lower plate, roughly parallel to each other and attached to each other at one end in such a way as to permit a spring-resisted movement.

I claim:

An anti-slip device for attachment to human feet, consisting of a thin plate of spring steel or other elastic metal bent back upon itself to form two substantially parallel legs which are resiliently spaced apart approximately the height of a shoe heel at their open ends, one leg of said plate having means for attaching the device to the shank of a shoe, the other leg of said plate being adapted for disposition below said first named leg and having depending prongs normally projecting below the plane of the shoe heel wear surface, said other leg being adapted for resilient retraction toward said first named leg to withdraw said prongs above the plane. of the heel wear surface when the prongs contact an unyielding tread surface.

EDWARD E. BUTLER. 

